The number of foreign contributors increased by 15,804 in February, of which 4,204 were self-employed

Social Security registered 2,971,811 foreign national contributors in February, after discounting seasonality and the calendar effect, having added 15,804 employed people. In the last twelve months, the number of people employed from other countries has increased by 7.6%. This is a new peak in seasonally adjusted foreign employment, in line with the trend throughout 2024.

Since the implementation of the labour reform in 2022, the system has seen an increase of 604,592 workers from other countries, i.e., 26.6% more. This means that 44.1% of the employment created in the last three years corresponds to foreign workers.

In the context of overall contribution, foreign national workers account for 13.8% of the total number of employed people, six tenths of a percentage point more than a year ago.

Average contributors

In average terms and without seasonal adjustment, i.e. in the original series, Social Security registered 2,874,398 contributors from other countries, 202,851 more in the last year and 31,369 more than in January.

This is the highest number of total foreign contributors to Social Security in both the original and seasonally adjusted series for a month of February.

Self-employed workers

In terms of the distribution by regime, it is worth noting the increase in self-employed workers from other countries. In the last month alone, there was an increase of 4,204 foreign workers in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA).

In February, foreign workers accounted for 90% of the rate of increase in the RETA over the last year (1.1% of the 1.2% of the total). Specifically, there are 471,559 workers registered in this special regime, an increase of 8.2% in year-on-year terms, representing 16.4% of the total number of self-employed in Spain.

The increase in the number of foreign self-employed people in the last year has been particularly pronounced in the Information and communications sector, which has grown by 34.5%. Scientific and Technical Professional Activities also stands out, with an increase of 17.3% in the number of self-employed workers.

General regime

In line with the situation of native workers, 83.4% of foreign affiliates were included in the General Social Security Scheme, reaching 2,398,066 workers.

Over the last 12 months, foreign contributors in this scheme has grown by around 7.5%, and in seven sectors in particular: Transport and Storage (24.9%), Water Supply (11.9%), Administrative Activities (9.7%), Health Care Activities (9.6%), Construction (9.4%), Manufacturing (9.3%) and Accommodation (9.10%).

The year-on-year growth in foreign contributors is also very notable in high value-added activities, with notable growth in Financial Activities (9%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (7.6%) and Information and Communications, which increased 7%.

The distribution by sector in both the General Regime and the Self-Employed Workers' Regime shows an increasing diversification.

More than 73,000 Ukrainian contributors

A total of 31.3% are workers from EU countries. Of all the nationalities, Morocco heads the list of countries with the highest number of contributors, followed by Romania, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela and China.

Of the total number of contributors from other countries: 1.6 million are men and 1.2 million are women - a figure that has grown 32.6% since before the pandemic (December 2019). The number of female contributors now exceeds 43% of the total number of foreign workers.

Among other nationalities, there are 73,231 contributors from Ukraine, 25,653 more than in February 2022, prior to the start of the war, representing a 54% growth.

The majority of workers (82.1%) from Ukraine are in the General Regime, i.e., they are salaried workers, and 17.9% are self-employed.

Non official translation